Kevin and I attended a Men’s Retreat last weekend at Broken Arrow Ranch, in Pottawatomie County, Kansas. You probably didn’t need to know which county, but how could I pass up that name! Broken Arrow is a campground owned by the Seventh-day Adventist church, and is perhaps best known for Summer Camps for kids.
The meetings were really great – Dr Richard Davidson spoke about “The Gospel in the Old Testament”. While that might not sound fascinating, it truly was! Awesome stuff!
Here are some pictures of the Ranch grounds:
We stayed in the cabin very top left in this photo… I’m told it is one of the Girl’s cabins during Summer Camp.
Below is a Bird’s Eye View of the camp and Tuttle Creek Lake:
We ate well, had great talks, and enough free time to both explore and rest up.
The least exciting thing was some work we’d volunteered for… They asked if anyone could come early or stay late and help with some painting. Kevin and I said we’d be happy to help. We got there mid-day Friday (instead of 6pm registration) and joined a whole lot of folks painting the main room of the lodge. It had old paneling, and we were to paint the whole thing with primer, and then with a dark green paint… before the 6pm meeting started! There were probably 6 men (besides us) and 2 children, and masking tape and paper everywhere. They were in such a hurry to get the paint on, that we were often running over wet primer. Eventually, we had to clean up, and the meeting would go on with most of the trim and high stuff undone.
Kevin and I were asked if we could stay on Sunday, after the meetings were over, to finish up the trim. We agreed, but were surprised to find we were the only ones! We spent the rest of Sunday painting! But I have to admit, it looked pretty good when we were done. If you don’t get too close!
Friday we went to the “First Friday” concert at the Saint Paul United Methodist Church. We have heard they do a great free concert the first Friday of the month. This one featured the Husker Horn Choir… a group of 30 French Horns! They are and extension of the French Horn Studio at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The church is gorgeous inside, with nice stained glass and a fine looking organ.
The Horn Choir contains UNL music majors, non-majors, faculty and community members. The height of the music stands prevented very good pictures of them, but the sound was wonderful! I’ve never seen (or heard) so many French Horns together before. They played a somewhat eclectic range of tunes, from Amazing Grace to the themes of Mission Impossible and Jurassic Park.
This is the first “First Friday” concert we’ve been able to attend, and they announced that it was the last of the season. We’ll try again in October!
Friday was Dayna’s Piano recital. She and a bunch of other kids all did very well! Of course, Dayna was the best!
Afterwards, Dayna posed with her teacher and with family friend, Wesley. A very nice recital!
